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Celebrating the Rebellion against the Crown

Captain Bill — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:02:07 +0000

Celebrating The Rebellion Against The Crown

Guest Post by Barry Brett

One of a series of short humorous stories of life in Iquitos.

Each article is a portrayal of actual events, written from the perspective of a Californian living in the Jungle City of Iquitos, Peru.

Barry Brett celebrating the rebellion against the crown at the Amazon Golf Course on July 4th, 2009.

Well I was born in England, went to school and college there. Worked my first few jobs there, but always inside I was American! While other children happily read Beano and Dandy comics I was hooked on Mickey Mouse weekly. Those Disney cartoons were everything to me. As I grew-up I slicked back my hair, put on my blue jeans (American Levis) and slid into my Blue Suede Shoes. Yes I was in love with Elvis and American Rock & Roll. So it should come as no surprise that having travelled much of the world by age twenty two I found myself finally in the U.S., sitting on the Florida sand at Coco Beach together with some two million Americans watching the launch to the Moon. I never really left! I’ve lived in the U.S. more than forty years and now I find myself completely Americanized with just a slight trace of that perfect English accent I once had.

I think of myself as American, my son was born in California and my wife was Californian. So there I was at the Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos, Peru. Celebrating the Rebellion Against the Crown. It had been raining heavily for quite sometime. (After all it is the rainforest!). When we arrived Bill Curtis was playing flute upstairs entertaining Bill Grimes and other Americans. I wanted to ask Bill if he could play Yankee Doodle Dandy but then I realized I’d forgotten the words. I could have sung God Save the Queen. I still remember those words but somehow it didn’t seem appropriate! Did it ever seem appropriate? Waltzing Matilda sounds even more bizarre. Who was Matilda anyway? I’ve got my own ideas on that one but I wouldn’t want to offend my Aussie friends! But God save the Queen. What was she doing that was so bad that she had to be saved?

Bill Curtis playing the flute for the July 4th celebration at the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse.

I settled for hot dogs and the Star Spangled Banner. The hot dogs (Brazilian Sausage) together with Beans and Potato Salad were excellent as was all the American cuisine. I chugged-down a couple of Inka Colas and the beer drinkers stuck to their favorites, Pilsen or Iquiteña. It was quite a treat after so many months of fake American food in Arie’s Burger and the other boulevard restaurants. Surrounded by Red, White and Blue balloons, it felt like America even though we were thousands of miles from home.

There was plenty of good music, dancing and golfing in the rain for those so inclined. Dancing is not permitted on the golf course unless totally drunk! Then there’s an additional fee to remove all the empty six-packs or was it beer kegs? It was a mixed bunch.

Celebrating July 4th at the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse.

There were other Brits celebrating the loss of the Colony; that kick in-the-teeth, chop-off the hand that fed you (and TAXED YOU). Or maybe it was just an excuse to chug-down some more beer. After all there are plenty of Americans who see the Fourth as an excuse to party-down. As for me the Fourth represents much more than that.

Yes, THE FOURTH. Notice that Americans never describe it as the Fourth of July. To us it’s THE FOURTH. It represents a sea-change in political thought. Those TRAITORS, (Oh, I mean THOSE HEROES) who risked a public hanging to give the world a new concept of governance. The notion that the rights of man are god-given and not the property of Kings and Queens, Emperors and Despots. Rights that are god-given and cannot be abridged or taken away without the express consent of the governed. I was celebrating the founding documents, the Constitution, Declaration and the Bill of Rights. The world has never been the same since. There was a time once, when I was a child walking through the ruble of my totally destroyed hometown when the Stars and Stripes meant everything to everyone. Americans were heroes and welcomed as liberators. Oh gosh, the American flag, the Stars and Stripes. Have I been color-blind all these years. Is it, yes it is. RED, WHITE and BLUE. NO it can’t be. But surely it is. Aren’t they the same colors from the British flag, the Union Jack? No they wouldn’t would they? I mean that’s trans-atlantic thievery. Steal the colors after kicking the Brits in the teeth? OH YES THEY WOULD!

Celebrating The Rebellion Against The Crown

Barry Brett

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Working on Changing the Amazon Golf Course to Your Great Amazon Golf Course

Captain Bill — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:24:19 +0000

Working on Changing the Amazon Golf Course to Your Great Amazon Golf Course

Marmelita, Margarita, and Guido taking inventory in the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse

Yesterday Marmelita and I worked on the Amazon Golf Course. We helped the course manager Margarita, and four men working with Stihl weed eaters, two men raking grass and pushing a wheelbarrow hauling off the cut grass. We planted trees, hauled compost, and watered the new plantings. We got tired, hungry and sunburned but enjoyed our day of manual labor.

Around 2:00pm, I hung a hammock on the top floor of the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse where I could catch a breeze and look out over the course. I took a little nap, and I don’t know if it was a dream, a miracle, or a partially awake vision, but what ever it was, I “saw” Your Great Amazon Golf Course completed. I think it was a vision, and I want to share it with you.

I sat at a table on the second story of what is for now simply the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse, looking out over the golf course around four in the afternoon, and spent over an hour typing on my Mac laptop, the vision that I have been blessed to share with you.

I have been thinking small. Thinking small usually returns…well, small results. Let me give you a few examples. Just keeping the grass mowed for the Amazon Golf Course is thinking small. Planting around 100 trees and blooming plants like we did when we built the course is thinking small. I had a small idea last year about this time. I wrote a “small” article in the Dawn on the Amazon Captain’s Blog, titled, Amazon Golf Course, Iquitos Peru, Opens Under New Management, asking for donations to plant another 200 trees and blooming bushes and shrubs. Maybe it was the smallness of my suggestion. No one donated one dollar or one hour of labor to help plant 200 trees so no trees were planted during the last year. Not one tree. No blooming bush. Not one hibiscus blossom, fewer hummingbirds. My ideas suffered from thinking small.

Margarita and Marmelita planting Palmarosa trees at the Amazon Golf Course

Besides that, I thought small that we needed a few hundred pounds of lime to adjust the PH of the soil from acidic to neutral. Ha ha, we need a few hundred tons of lime. I thought small that we needed a few hundred bags of compost. We need a few hundred tons of compost. I thought we could keep up with a couple of push mowers and a couple of weed eaters, ha, ja, he, je, hi, ji, ji, jijijijijiji…

Don’t think small folks. This is not your back yard, patio, garden. This is the 24 acres we built a golf course on. I can’t even see the backside of my vision from where I was sitting yesterday on the second floor of the clubhouse. I am proud of what we have done here in spite of thinking small. Some of us are more small minded than others, but that is a different part of our story.

Now don’t get me wrong, 200 strategically landscaped trees and bushes over one year old today would have made a big difference, and some of you members should have stepped up, and some of you golfers could have helped, but that is a water hazard best avoided. Let’s start now. Two hundred trees would disappear in 24 acres of golf course. To change the Amazon Golf Course into Your Great Amazon Golf Course we need 2,000 trees and blooming bushes, and flowering shrubs. I am personally going to plant 200 trees, bushes and shrubs, but we need you to step up and help with the other 1,800 plants that will make the big difference.

View of the Amazon Golf Course From the top floor of the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse

Come out to the land with me. Let’s walk around. Use your imagination. Don’t think small like I did for three years. Think big. Imagine the possibilities. All of the borders are wasted. Do you want our groundkeepers to fight worthless weeds or to prune flowering vines? There is plenty of space, and even necessity, for shade trees near all of the tee offs and around behind the greens. The front and back could be landscaped so beautiful you would be proud to be a member or to say you golfed in the jungle gardens.

Imagine bougainvillea vines blooming over the entrance of the lane to Your Great Amazon Golf Course. Palmarosa trees that grow naturally looking like they are pruned every day, intermingled with Hibiscus, Locura, and Alamondas all around the borders, and lining the drive. Why isn’t the clubhouse surrounded in a jungle garden with only a path to the front and rear door? I will tell you why, because we were thinking small. Let’s fix it. Be part of the vision. Do something. We need your support.

Working on Changing the Amazon Golf Course to Your Great Amazon Golf Course

Captain Bill Grimes, Dawn on the Amazon

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Amazon Golf Course, More Testimonials, Such As They Are

Captain Bill — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:08:49 +0000

Amazon Golf Course, More Testimonials, Such As They Are

These are unedited testimonials straight from our commentary book at the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse.

From Bob Ferguson, Edinburgh, Scotland;

“Wow-that was a fantastic experience, though I’m still trying to work out how I lost two balls in the middle of the fairway!

I’ll remember this when I am back playing in boring old Scotland-wondering where the sun has gone.

Thanks for a fantastic game.”

Jonathan Cakebread from Stanford England observes;

“Certainly an experience not to be found in rural Bedfordshire! The obstacles of huge rough/mosquitoes/humidity were pretty hard to overcome, when you cut the grass I’ll come back until then au revoir.”

Len & Camille from Canada say;

“Didn’t come to Iquitos expecting a golf course. It was a good time but very, very hot! Still good fun golfing in the Amazon!”

Nick Balcienbe;

“The Amazon Golf Course changed my life.”

Scott Hill;

“Thanks for golf in the Amazon-Amazing!”

Glenno, “Aus”;

“Can’t wait to tell my mates, “I played golf in the Amazon”. Was a real challenge.”

Kevin Sievers, Chicago, USA says;

“Great time, a little hot, and very slow greens, but Rodrigo was also very forgiving! Good fun!”

Amazon Golf Course, More Testimonials, Such As They Are

Bill Grimes, Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

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